In Brief

**** Various artists, “Cuban Gold 5, the ‘80s,” Qbadisc. The ‘80s was a time of high energy for Cuban salsa, and this inspired compilation picks the best of the lot, from expected selections (Los Van Van, Adalberto Alvarez) to a few lesser-known names (La Maravilla de Florida, Conjunto Rumbavana). The icing on the cake is the marvelous, nine-minute “Homenaje al Beny” by Irakere. A sensational party disc.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.

Hear the Music

* Excerpts from these albums and other recent releases are available on The Times’ World Wide Web site. Point your browser to: http://pixel.nohib.com./soundclips